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breaking news

Praying mantis ‘preys’ on Logan Morrison, Florida Marlins dugout

As the Marlins put the finishing touches on their 11-2 thrashing of the Nationals in Washington, a more subtle, but exciting, drama played out in the Florida dugout. (See video after the jump.)

A praying mantis spends some quality time with Clay Hensley in the Marlins' dugout. (via @SporTech)

Late in the game, FSN Florida cameras caught a praying mantis landing on Clay Hensley’s back. After teammates tried to get rid of it, the green insect eventually wound up spending most of a half-inning resting on Hensley’s cap as both watched the action (screen grab via SporTech). As the blowout drama unfolded, Emilio Bonifacio backed into a corner of the dugout, and then the praying mantis decided to take center stage.

The insect began crawling off the front of Hensley’s cap, leading the pitcher to set the mantis down on the dugout railing. From that point, the mantis began its slow walk of “terror,” getting hitting coach Eduardo Perez to move from his perch on the top step.
But the praying mantis wasn’t done. Morrison returned to the dugout after the top of the ninth inning and made the unfortunate mistake of trying to say hi to the insect.

We’ll let the video take it from here:

The best part, aside from the attack, might have been Morrison’s teammates laughing hysterically while watching him go wild. The praying mantis spent the rest of the game on the dugout railing eyeing the Marlins’ bench, perhaps as a warning, all the while helping to light up Twitter feeds of Marlins fans.

After the game, Greg Dobbs, who had 5 RBI in the win, saw highlights of the FSN Florida feed for the first time and said, “Oh god…oh god…that’s a 240-pound man scared out of his mind.”

Shortly after that, Morrison posted the following on Twitter before inserting a link to the video: “LoMo fears no man. Bugs on the other hand …”